Quite surprised by it to be fair, I did say a few years back I thought the standard 3 wasn’t great looking.
However this performance model 3, once you’ve actually adjusted a few settings etc really made an impression on me.
The car was on charge when we arrived, check in is via a QR code on your smartphone, fill out a simple form and submit, takes literally 2 mins.
Wonder over to the showroom guy, he takes us out to it.
Quickly shows us the opening procedure with the Tesla card, get in adjust seat etc while he went and unplugged it.
Basic this does this that does that etc etc yeah yeah shut that door (Larry Grayson style

)
What is refreshing at this point, no Audi waiting around crap, no being ignored, no mither, no paper work signing etc, just got on with it……. Go into Audi and they all either ignore you or try to look incredibly busy doing naff all (Stockport Audi were a prime example of this)
D,R,P all done on the R hand stalk, no fuss no confusion, simple.
One pedal operation, after 5 mins becomes second nature, the Tesla cameras capture everything that’s going on around the car, lights turn to red, ease of the pedal the car comes to a stop nice and easy, car is reading the traffic lights on the screen, they turn green, Ooooo first pedal to the floor action



wow this thing is instantly fast, cars behind become dots quickly

.
It’s totally different to the EV6 (2000kg), doesn’t feel ‘heavy’ for its 1850 kg weight, I was wondering if it would feel it when pushing on in corners, however to me it felt very flat when cornering at speed, no drama and I couldn’t unsettle it with big throttle inputs either, it just seemed to grip and go.
Suspension set up seems great to me it felt comfortable over some roads I normally use in the RS3, I’d read reports of the Tesla suspension being a little on the firm side, wasn’t something I found, it seems to cope with everything you throw at it, even with the huge 20” wheels.
This thing has huge calipers front and rear, now this is where things are different, you get that used to the one pedal operation, yes it’s that good, that the minute you actually do use the brakes they are a little underwhelming, you have to press that pedal pretty hard, now I assume this is down to lack of a proper servo assistance, maybe, or maybe it’s a different way, either way you need to adjust the way you use them.
The big question I suppose is did I miss the noise etc associated with a performance car

……… not really, that’ll upset the RS cart

I bet.
The looks I agree aren’t to everyone’s liking, but you can say that about a lot of cars.
I liked the way the new 8Y RS3 went and looked from certain angles ( not all mind ) and I feel the same about this Tesla.
Interior I liked, a lot, less clutter, better visibility, no issue with not having the speedo directly in front of me, you get used to the reading on the touch screen right corner, it’s not as distracting as I thought it would be.
The car was cold when we got in but literally 2 mins later the heating was hot and heated seats / steering wheel were toasty

so much so we turned them off.
I did walk around looking at panel gaps/paint etc and couldn’t see anything untoward, they are built in Shanghai now, and soon In Germany the showroom guy told us.
I’m actually impressed by it, lol, which sounds nuts after owning RS3’s since 2012
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